In our “instant” society, it’s intuitive to imagine that if we had unlimited power we would achieve everything we wish as fast as possible.
Our imagination has been shaped by the likes of Aladdin’s Genie, who claimed, “You’ve never had a friend like me!” With a rub of the lamp, Aladdin had access to power unlike anything he’d ever seen before. His wishes could become reality in a snap.
We try to grasp such power in smaller ways in our “instant” society: Christmas shopping from the comfort of our couch on Amazon, ordering dinner to our doorstep via Grubhub, or streaming the latest Marvel movie on Disney+. Modern technology allows us to do some pretty incredible things. And yet, there’s a big difference between on-demand creation “out of nothing” and Domino’s 30-minute delivery.
The point is though, when we imagine unlimited power, we tend to imagine “instant” or “immediate” power. What good is unlimited power if not used to get what I want “now”? Or to put it another way, if we had unlimited power, we would accomplish our plans in a hurry.
Last week, I hosted our first NextGen Workshop for this year. We covered a lot of ground on the theme of “hurry” (you can view the presentation slides here), including some theory, assessment, and practice. There was one question, however, that we ironically hurried through, and I wanted to process a bit further here. The question was, “Is God in a hurry?”
This is by no means an exhaustive or definitive study on the question. But consider a few relevant biblical texts…
Genesis 1-2
Have you ever thought about the fact that God created in 7 days? The Creator of the universe, the One with infinite, unlimited power, determined to create over the course of a week. As they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” and neither was the universe we inhabit. In fact, God took 6 days, then rested for an additional day, settling in and enjoying the goodness of what he had made.
In his excellent book, You’re Only Human, professor Kelly Kapic writes:
For almost two centuries Christians have debated how and when God created the world… Even the most conservative view, which affirms that God created the world in six literal days, about six thousand years ago, still recognizes that he took his time! Since he could have made it instantly and didn’t, whether it was six days or six trillion, it means process matters to God.
In creating the world, God took his time.
Genesis 15
As part of his covenant to Abraham, God promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s children. However, God was going to wait 400 years to fulfill that promise, because the “iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” Before Abraham’s children would inhabit the land, they would be afflicted and enslaved in a land not their own until the fourth generation.
In fulfilling his promise to Abraham, God took his time.
Exodus 13
As the people of Israel prepared to leave Egypt…the place they had been enslaved for 400 years…God led them out by a pillar of cloud and fire. Pretty incredible! Ironically, however, God did not lead them via the nearest or fastest route, which was through Philistine territory. Instead, he went the long way around via “the wilderness toward the Red Sea.”
Are you catching a theme here?
Again, this is hardly an exhaustive study… we haven’t even left the first two books of the Old Testament! But consider one last passage from the New Testament.
2 Peter 3
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you.
Isn’t that a great line? “The Lord is not slow…as some count slowness, but is patient.” I love that.
To this biblical witness, we could add the witness of history. It’s been 2000 years since Christ ascended to heaven. He could return at any time, but he hasn’t…at least not yet. History seems to suggest Jesus isn’t perturbed about bringing his kingdom to earth at his pace rather than any earthly metric we might want to place on him. That’s not to undermine the church’s urgent mission to bring the gospel to all nations, but to observe that our task is not to know the times but to be his witnesses (Acts 1:6-8). We witness. He keeps track of the clock.
So, is God in a hurry?
I don’t think so. Instead, God is abundantly patient. I assume he loves results and outcomes, but he clearly appreciates process…so much that results are often delayed beyond what we would expect. Though he is infinitely powerful, God isn’t rushed to fulfill his purpose or anxious to prove himself. Don’t get me wrong: he can, at any moment, do anything he wishes! God could bring his redemptive purposes to their cosmic conclusion today. Yet, he tarries.
And it’s this dynamic that creates so many tensions in the life of faith, isn’t it? Waiting on the Lord can be one of the hardest callings for the faithful on this side of eternity. Wresting with God not meeting our expectations or blessing our plans can cause tremendous worry and grief. Laboring all our lives for a vision unrealized in our lifetime – some might call that a waste, but God calls it faithfulness.
It’s been said that we need to slow down to catch up with God. In our “instant” society, that’s something worth thinking about.
For more on this question, check out Matt Canlis’ 30-minute documentary titled, Godspeed.